And it is quite cold.
We have about 12-14 inches of snow on the ground and a high temp today of 14 degrees.
The Man and I have expended quite a bit of energy over the last couple of days trying to keep the critters out of the worst of it. But blowing snow is a real bugger.
We’ve fortified the shed with tarps, hung heat lamps for the chigs, and rigged water defrosters.
If anyone is out there looking for a makeshift chicken heater, I think that we might have hit upon something that might help in a punch- seedling heat mats
Didn’t take a picture while I was out there (reluctant to remove my gloves) but you can kind of see on the chicken cam.
You basically wrap one seedling mat around the 5 gallon reservoir, and place another beneath the tray. I’ve got a rubber flooring tile below the bottom mat so that it’s not sitting directly on the concrete pavers. So far it seems to be working well keeping the water in a liquid state.
The sheeps seem to be doing ok, but are a little agitated. Don’t know if that is maybe because we’ve been out there so much puttering and messing with stuff, or maybe they are kind of freaked out by the sounds the tarps make in the wind. But I wish they would cool out and hang in the shed where it is marginally comfier.
That’s it for now. I’m pretty beat. And tomorrow isn’t supposed to be any better weather-wise.
Take care and stay safe folks-
Photos, for the record 😉
Brrrr; you got almost twice as much snow and half the temperature that we have! The animal water here is freezing some, but not enough to break out all the heating tools we have. Having moved here from Minnesota, we have what we need but hate to drag it all out and set it up for a day or three.
Pretty sure this is the coldest I’ve seen since I’ve been out in WA (1995). Grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so have some deep freeze experience, but I guess I thought I’d put that all behind me. I don’t think we’re expected to get back above freezing until next weekend.
Cold is exhausting. I will have to try the seedling mat though. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself earlier. Thanks!
I know, right? not sure why it never occurred to me before. Seemed to work pretty well, at least down into the ‘teens. All bets are off once we’re down in the single digit temps.